Conventionally, electronic components may be mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB) using a through-hole technique or surface-mount technique. In the through hole technique, a plurality of holes are drilled on one surface of the PCB. The holes are designed to pass through all layers of the PCB to the other surface of the PCB. The electronic components contain pins for coupling the electronic components to the PCB. In the through hole technique, the pins fit into a plurality of holes, trimmed on the opposite side of the PCB, and are soldered in place. Accordingly, using the through hole technique, components are typically placed on one side of the PCB.
Using the surface-mount technique, the electronic devices are directly mounted on a surface of the PCB. The devices are soldered directly onto the PCB. The surface-mount technique eliminates the need to drill holes on the PCB and allows for much smaller components to be coupled to the PCB. Using the surface-mount technique, components can be mounted on both sides of the PCB.
Both mounting techniques suffer from problems caused by the misalignment of the components or connectors on the PCB. The misalignment may cause undesirable crosstalk among the components on the PCB. In addition, current mounting techniques are not desirable for rugged applications due to the common problem of fretting. Fretting refers to the wear that occurs between two surfaces that are in contact with each other under a load. Fretting is particularly prevalent in the presence of vibration, which is an important concern for high-vibration environments, such as a circuit board mounted in vehicles used in rough terrains, airplanes or missiles.